Washington imposes more sanctions to curb Tehran’s oil exports
US President Donald Trump's administration has imposed sanctions on more than 30 entities, including tank operators, shipping firms and vessels involved in transporting Iranian crude oil.
PHOTO: Flags of Iran and the US. Getty Images
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned several shipping companies and vessels that make up Iran’s shadow fleet, as it continues with its efforts to drive the OPEC-member’s oil exports down to zero.
“Iran continues to rely on a shadowy network of vessels, shippers, and brokers to facilitate its oil sales and fund its destabilizing activities,” US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said.
Among those sanctioned are oil brokers based in the UAE and Hong Kong, tanker operators and mangers in India and China, the head of Iran’s National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), and the Iranian Oil Terminals Company (IOTC), OFAC said.
This move has reiterated the US government’s stance on tighter sanctions against Iran and has supported Brent's price.
The US treasury department has sanctioned Barbados-flagged CASINOVA, which also goes by the name YING GE, for transporting over 200,000 bbls of Iranian crude oil to the UAE. It has also blocked the Panama-flagged MENG XIN and the Cook Islands-flagged PHOENIX I for transporting “hundreds of thousands of metric tons of Iranian oil from sanctioned Naftiran Intertrade Company, the marketing arm of NIOC,” it said.
OFAC has sanctioned ten more vessels, that are allegedly a part of Iran’s shadow fleet.
A shadow fleet or a ‘dark fleet’ consists of older and environmentally hazardous vessels that intentionally evade regulations. By assembling a shadow fleet of poorly maintained vessels that are used to circumvent sanctions meant to restrict the movement of Iranian crude oil, the country has effectively generated thousands of dollars in revenues to support regional armed groups, including the Yemen-based Houthis and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.
By Aparupa Mazumder
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